


Extremely Reliable Narrator

by Deerman3



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Gen, Meta, hey sorry to mobile users this looks inscrutable on mobile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:56:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10040042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deerman3/pseuds/Deerman3
Summary: As it turns out, Cecil is a good news man.





	

Extremely Reliable Narrator  
  
Some will tell you that Cecil Palmer, from Night Vale, is the “unreliable narrator” trope but actually, esteemed guests, I am here to argue otherwise.  
  
The unreliable narrator trope is a type of voice used in fiction, where the narrator is lying, omitting the truth, or falsely leading the readers to  
  
conclusions, such as red herrings. An example is Lemony Snicket, who teaches us things like “don't run with knives” which is false, actually.  
  
Another kind of unreliable narrator is one who is very biased and their bias is part of the story, such as if the narrator targeted one character as bad  
  
but later we might learn they are, for example, trying their best or able to see things that others cannot. Or ignoring things they do not like or want to  
  
discuss. Cecil is hard-working, responsible, has human qualities, thoughtful, and umami, which are all traits of a reliable narrator.  
  
  
  
First of all, Cecil often goes far out of his way to provide the audience with the truest and up-to-date facts and news about the setting Night Vale.  
  
One example of this is when Cecil went out of his way to report on what Nick Teller was doing with electricity in the museum and his show  
  
was taken off the air for a few weeks, so he could have a vacation and also tell the whole, full truth. Another example of Cecil and electricity is  
  
the time the power company was mad about a break-up and stopped the power, or the time there was a puppy in town and the electricity in Cecil's  
  
workplace was cut off. Cecil has to deal with a lot the least we could do is not call him a trope. He is a hard-working and three dimensional.  
  
  
  
Cecil is also responsible, and admits when he has misinformed us in his “corrections” segment. Another example of his responsibility is his cat,  
  
Khoshekh, and his and Carlos's dogs, presumably. Taking care of things is also a sign of responsibility, and it carries over to his job. Another thing  
  
that carries him to his job might be his car, another thing he would have to care for, since cars can die or go feral.  
  
  
  
Stories are often written to move people, and one author1 has said that you can never write something to entertain, that there must be purpose. A  
  
story must have emotion, and these emotions must be believable. You believe me, correct? And I am human. And I make mistakes. Guess who else  
  
is purportedly2 human... Cecil himself. A story for humans can only be told by a human, anything else would be questionable, and, dare I say,  
  
unreliable.  
  
  
  
This is what he does for a living. He is speaking his truth, whatever he sees is the only thing he can show us. Whatever people tell him in interviews,  
  
and the things he can tell us himself, are the only two things he could tell us. His world is our world. And it may not be perfect, and it may not be  
  
perceived, or even fully perceivable. It may be incomprehensible, but Cecil relays it to us so that we can understand, and that is commendable,  
  
especially for a man living in a place like Night Vale, which sometimes is out-right incomprehensible.  
  
  
  
To conclude, there is only one type of unreliable narrator, the first type, and many types of reliable narrators. And for Cecil's careful attention and  
  
elbow grease to discovering the truth, and his human emotions and traits, Cecil may be one of them. This is more of taking a dump on the basic  
  
essay format teachers teach me, and the way essays sound to me, and how hard they are to research and get out coherently. It certainly is less of a  
  
dump on people using things they love to make essays worth something to them. In fact, it is not a dump on that at all, I just wanted to argue this  
  
one point, because, factually, Cecil is trying and he is not doing this to us on purpose, but of course I think there is merit in both sides of the  
  
argument! Thank-you for reading.


End file.
